


Seven Kisses

by captainkaltar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, Kerberos Mission, Kissing, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Pre-Canon, Separations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-14 23:50:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9210677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainkaltar/pseuds/captainkaltar
Summary: A series of snapshots over the course of Keith and Shiro's relationship, starting at the beginning and following through to when they first join Voltron.





	1. First Kiss

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LuciferCaelestis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuciferCaelestis/gifts).



> This is my Sheith secret santa gift for @lucifercaelestis! I guess over a month late is better than never. Happy belated holidays! <3<3<3

He always feels more alive at night. 

 

It’s so quiet out here, the night sky spiralling off into infinity. No overly strict instructors, no loud chattering students, no commotion. Here on the Garrison rooftop, he can properly hear himself breathe, hear his own heartbeat, feel almost as connected and focused as he feels when working the pilot simulator, only without the adrenaline rush of flying through space. 

 

Except that tonight, the adrenaline rush is decidedly there, coursing through his bloodstream and making his heart bound. And he’s not alone. 

 

“Keith?” A hand alights on his shoulder, warm and pleasantly callused through the thin fabric of his t-shirt. “What’s on your mind there, buddy?” 

 

_Buddy_. If only he were more than that to Shiro, Shiro with his bright eyes and brilliant smile and seemingly boundless love for adventure and knowledge, full of life in a way Keith had never imagined a single person could be until they first met, a few months ago now at the beginning of term. 

 

“Uh, not much really.” He shrugs, hoping the movement doesn’t come across as stiff and out of place. “Just looking at the stars.” 

 

“So was I.” Shiro smiles, making Keith’s poor heart nearly erupt in his chest, thanking any power out there that he’s already sitting down and his shaking knees can’t fail him. “Hey, Keith, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you, but- but well, I didn’t a good chance until now.”

 

“Yeah?” He’s suddenly acutely aware of how close Shiro’s sitting to him, how there’s still a hand resting on his shoulder. 

 

“Okay, so I know we’ve been hanging out a lot lately.” Oh no, where’s he going with this? 

 

“But I’ve been thinking about it, and I think that, well, I don’t know, Keith-“ Shiro trails off, biting his lip. “Keith, can I- can I kiss you?” 

 

He would answer, but his heart spikes into his throat, rendering him unable to do anything for a moment. Just as Shiro’s eyes start to fill with worry, he manages to nod vigorously, hoping he doesn’t come across as too eager. There’s no way this is real, no way Shiro, beautiful Shiro wants to kiss him. And yet there’s a hand on the back of his neck now, guiding him in, another skimming over his lower back. 

 

“Ready?” Shiro waits for another nod before closing in, his lips warm and butter-smooth against Keith’s dried and chapped ones, his arms strong and safe as they wrap around Keith’s waist.

 

It’s over too quickly; they’re both holding back for now, it’s only their first kiss after all. But after Shiro’s pulled his lips away and Keith’s rested his head in the other boy’s lap, they stay together on the rooftop well until clouds roll in and the stars begin to fade. When they leave the rooftop and sneak back to their dorms, they’re both too close to sleep to do much more than smile and say goodnight, but as Keith looks over his shoulder one last time before turning the corner to his dorm, he swears he spies Shiro blowing him a little kiss. 

 


	2. Late Night, in Shiro's Dorm

Keith’s mind is heavy with calculations and figures and formulae, his body heavy and aching from sitting in the same place for too long. He groans, his head hitting the desk. He’s got two exams this week and three the week after that, and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t seem to make astrophysics data stick in his head. Not even with the help of the top astrophysics student in the Garrison, who happens to be slumped in a chair next to him, datapads and study papers littered around his half-asleep form. 

“We should really get some rest.” 

“What time is it?” Keith fumbles with the nearest datapad, trying to turn it on. 

“Later than any civilized human should be awake.” Shiro’s something of a morning person, tending to fall asleep earlier than this. 

“It’s nearly 3 am. This is nothing, I’ve been awake later than this studying.” 

“Come on, we’ve both got classes tomorrow. You need to sleep.”

“Make me…” 

“I’m not kissing you again until you go to bed.”

“No! That’s below the belt!” Keith jumps out of his seat, if you can call his lurching sleep-addled motion a jump. Shiro follows suit, and then they’re standing together in the middle of the chaotic, cramped little Garrison dorm. There are warm, sturdy arms around him, guiding him to his bunk. He tries to free himself, squirming in his boyfriend’s grasp, but that only makes Shiro laugh and lower him down to the sheets. 

“Come on, even a hero like the Garrison’s best pilot needs a good night’s rest.” Shiro straddles Keith’s hips, leaning down with lips ghosting over his cheek. 

“Shirooooo…” His voice is slurred with tiredness.   
“How do you think I did so well on all my astrophysics exams when I took them last year? I made a point-” He taps the tip of Keith’s nose “-of getting enough sleep every night!”

“That’s a lie and you know it.”

“Alright, you’ve got me there, not every night.” He laughs. “But ~almost~ every night, and I know you never get enough sleep. Here, let me tuck you in.” He pulls up the blanket and wraps it around Keith before the smaller boy has a chance to protest. It’s cozy, the fabric softened from months of Shiro sleeping under it. Keith can’t help but close his eyes and take a deep breath; it smells like Shiro. 

“Can you stay awake for one more second, cutie?” 

Keith mumbles something unintelligible in response, only to be cut off by Shiro’s lips gently brushing over his own, tender and comforting and so full of love that Keith can’t help but kiss back, his fingers digging into Shiro’s hair. It’s a long time before Shiro pulls away, lying in bed with his arms lazily slung around the small, tightly wound little body tucked under his sheets. 

“Goodnight, sweetness. Get enough rest.” But Keith’s already fast asleep, his breathing regular and soft. It’s not long before Shiro follows suit.


	3. Goodbye Kiss

“I wish I could take you with me.” Shiro sweeps his bangs out of his face; even though they’re perfectly combed, ready for the press and their relentless cameras, they still have a habit of falling into his eyes. The Garrison rooftop gives them a perfect view of both the sweeping desert and the Kerberos rocket looming nearby, a grim reminder of how far away they’re being swept. Shiro told him it would be fitting to visit the place where they first kissed on his last night before the big mission, but all it’s doing is fill Keith with longing and dread. 

“I wish you didn’t have to leave.”

“No way, it would be better if we could explore space together, don’t you think?” 

“I like being with you here, right now.” They’re standing face to face with their arms around each other, and Keith leans forward to rest his head on Shiro’s shoulder, the fabric of his formal pilot’s uniform stiff to the touch.

“I’ll come back, you know I will. Have I told you the first thing I’ll do when I land on Earth again?”

Keith shakes his head, tightening his grip on Shiro’s waist. 

“I’m going to kiss you.” 

“Doesn’t that go without saying? Of course you’ll kiss me.” A little flush creeps over Keith’s face, despite his cocky words. 

“But this kiss will be special, it’ll be the first one in months.” 

“You’ve always been a sappy piece of shit, haven’t you, Takashi Shirogane?”

“Stop calling me that!” Shiro playfully pushes Keith away, making him stumble. “Everyone’s been calling me that lately, it’s all Takashi this, Takashi that!” 

“I thought you liked it when I call you by your full name.” Keith grins, face full of mischief as he cups Shiro’s cheek. He can’t help but linger; he knows full well that there will be texts and video calls, but he’s going to miss having Shiro physically beside him. 

Shiro sighs. “I’ve gotta go, I think they want one more appearance from me before we take off.” 

“You’ll be great out there.” Keith places a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “Just promise you’ll come back as soon as you can.” 

“You know it’s only a few months, and I’ll be in contact with Earth the entire time.” 

“Still going to miss you.” He clings to Shiro, closing all the space between them. Their lips meet in an almost desperate attempt to stay close to each other, Shiro’s hand on the back of his neck, just like their first kiss all those months ago. But that kiss was slow and taking its sweet time, this one is hurried, nearly sloppy as Shiro slips his tongue into Keith’s mouth and twists their tongues together, hands moving to the small of his back and kneading the sides of his waist, making Keith moan and grind his hips against his taller boyfriend. 

“Not now, sweetness, we don’t have any more time.” Shiro scatters kisses over Keith’s face, little aftershocks. They’re both breathless, their faces flushed, Shiro straightening out his now slightly crumpled uniform. 

“Fine, finish that when you get back?”

“I promise.” Shiro wraps him up in one last hug. “Finish that, and start so much more. I’m really going to miss you, Keith.”


	4. A Video Call from Near Kerberos

“You know we’re almost eighty percent of the way to Kerberos now? Which means that the mission’s close to being thirty percent complete.”

“Nerd.” Keith can’t help but smile; of course Shiro went to the trouble of calculating something like that. “I thought you’d be too busy to figure out stuff like that on this mission.”

“I thought that up last night when I couldn’t sleep.”

“Up late thinking about me?”

“Yeah, actually. I really missed you, and wanted to find out how long it would take for me to come back. I’m so lucky that we can at least video call.” 

“I miss you too.” They sit in silence for a while, enjoying each other’s presence- if you can call it that when there are a couple of computer screens and a few expanses of solar system separating them. 

“I should go.” Shiro runs his fingers through his hair, which is sticking straight up in the research ship’s low gravity. “Doctor Holt wants me to run a diagnostic over our long-range scanners, and you have homework to do.”

“I still have a whole week to finish my homework.” Keith sinks into his mattress, out of sight of the camera. “I just want to keep talking to you…”

“Hey, how about I call you again sometime tomorrow?” 

“Why can’t you talk to me some more now?” Keith knows he’s pushing his luck, he can’t keep Shiro away from his pilot duties.

“I really have to go, babe.” Shiro’s full of regret. “But hey, I have something for you before I leave; look at me.” Keith lifts his head up, greeted by the sight of his boyfriend blowing him a playful kiss, pressing his fingers as close to the intercom screen as he can without actually touching it.

“You really are a nerd.” Keith’s voice is gentle as he lifts his own fingers up to his lips and blows a kiss for Shiro. And as he presses his hand as close as he dares to the screen, he can almost imagine that he and his boyfriend’s hands are touching for real.


	5. Keith Alone

It’s an hour when no one in their right mind would be awake- if there were anyone else with him out here in the desert. The shack is full of loneliness. No music can drown out the silence, the pictures plastering the wall only make the empty feeling inside him worse, their candid smiles and carefully posed kisses a cruel reminder of how very alone he feels. 

He sighs, sprawling on his back on the bed, trying for the hundredth time to get some sleep. The routines of the Garrison are all forgotten out here; no one to call for lights out, no one to warn him of an early rise the next day. And no one to kiss him goodnight, no one to stroke his long hair as he drifts off, no one to whisper sweet nothings in the dark. 

Tears slide down his face.


	6. Reunion in the Desert Shack

He’s been here in his dreams hundreds of times before. A grey and golden dawn seeps through the windows of his shack, light pooling over the softly breathing body curled up in bed next to him. He’s afraid to touch him, afraid that reaching out will make the sleeping figure crumble away to dust, or fade to nothingness, the way he always does when Keith wakes up from his dreams, cold and lonely and sometimes in tears. 

He’s never dreamt about the shock of white hair slipping over his lover’s forehead though, or the scars lacing his bare chest. He doesn’t want to think about them, and he sure as hell doesn’t want to think about that harsh metal arm that’s currently sprawled over the pillow above his head either. They have so much to tell each other, so much to learn. Suddenly feeling worried, he decides to risk having Shiro vanish, and gently strokes his cheek. 

“Wake up, can you hear me?” He elicits a drawn-out groan from Shiro. 

“It’s me, it’s Keith.” 

“Keith?” He mumbles, his voice laced with confusion. Keith can’t help but stare as Shiro blinks his eyes open, rubbing at them with his flesh-and-blood hand. “Keith! Oh god, it’s you, Keith!” Shiro’s kiss is as weathered and rough around the edges as his appearance now, fingers of flesh and metal gripping onto Keith’s hair. He’s pressed into the bed, kissed again and again relentlessly and oh, it feels incredible, he’d beg Shiro not to stop and never to leave him again, except that Shiro’s stolen his breath and his speech away. He can’t speak, he can barely breaths, all he can do is kiss the man holding him down, and kiss him, and kiss him. 

But he has to breathe at some point, so he pulls away at long last, lying face to face with his lover, looking into his eyes. 

“I almost forgot what that felt like.”

“I completely forgot what it felt like.” There’s something in Shiro’s eyes that wasn’t there before, a flinty edge that Keith doesn’t know what to make of. But the feeling of their lips pressed together is exactly how he remembers it, and he finds himself laughing in sheer disbelief, it’s real, he’s real, he’s here. 

“My Keith…” Shiro clings to him, cold metal lingering on the back of his neck, scarred and calloused fingers toying with his hair. Hands roaming over his shoulders and across his chest, cupping his cheeks and pulling him into another kiss, desperate and needy as they curl up together under Keith’s tattered old blankets, making up for lost time.


End file.
